| Gilded Age at a Glance Dining out for Thanksgiving dinner was a common practice in the late 1800s, at least for those who could afford it, and turkey was not necessarily the choice of entrée. The Thanksgiving menu for 1894 at the Hotel Vendome in Boston featured Escalopes of Red Snapper, Boiled Ham with Sprouts, Leg of Mutton with Caper Sauce, Chicken Pot Pie Country Style, Ribs of Prime Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Mallard Duck, Broiled Quail on Toast, Boned Capon, Peking Duckling with Apple Dressing … and, yes, Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce. |
Thanksgiving Nov. 24, 2022
Enjoy your Fall was a sign I saw in a nursing home. A charming couple I know could have printed it on their walls. A few days before Thanksgiving the hostess fell. She broke her right wrist, sprained her left wrist and broke her nose.
Cancel Thanksgiving? Don’t be silly.
With the aid of two close friends and a dozen emails asking for starters, they pulled it off. Big Time. The host ruled the kitchen, preparing turkey and gravy, stuffing or do you say dressing? and heating up various dishes: corn bread, scalloped onions, herbed brussel sprouts, cranberry dressing, homemade apple pudding, pumpkin pie.
Because of her broken nose our hostess had raccoon eyes. There were dark circles under her eyes that extended across her taped nose. In the midst of this was her gentle smile and a twinkle in her eyes that a fall couldn’t erase.
How many people? I don’t know. Maybe twenty? twenty-five? ranging in age from nine to eighty plus. Mostly Americans with a few Dutch and Germans added, speaking perfect English of course.
It was a glorious Thanksgiving.